Following a 5-0 T20I series thrashing at the hands of Australia, West Indies captain Shai Hope has voiced regret at his team’s failure to put up a full-bodied batting display.
The visitors bowled the West Indies out for 170, their lowest total of the series, to win by a slim margin of three wickets in the last game, which was played in St. Kitts. Alzarri Joseph’s injury took him off the pitch just one ball into his third over, which was a major setback despite their excellent start with the ball, which saw them reduce Australia to 60 for 4 during the powerplay. An already stretched bowling attack was even weaker by his absence.
West Indies had trouble forming deep alliances during the series. They were cruising at 123 for 1 in the first game, but they stumbled and ended up at 189. They collapsed once more in the second game, going from 63 for 0 to 172 for 8.
A 125-run stand for the first wicket between Shai Hope and Brandon King provided a bright spot as the series went to St. Kitts. But once more, the middle order was unable to build on the basis. Australia maintained tight control throughout, despite the West Indies’ late improvements in the final two games. The targets were consistently pursued by the visitors with ample space between them.
“We didn’t put together a proper batting show, in my opinion. Either we had a strong start and a weak conclusion, or the opposite was true. During the post-match presentation, Hope stated, “You have to put things together for a more complete game when you’re playing against quality opposition like Australia.”
“As a batting lineup, we didn’t really provide ourselves the best opportunity to regularly score a high number. And that’s most likely where we failed. He continued, “We’ve always been a step behind the eight ball.”
When questioned why the West Indies were never given the opportunity to pursue in a single match, Shai Hope was able to smile since Australian captain Mitchell Marsh won each of the five tosses, giving Australia the advantage every time.
We all know from the statistics that chasing is always the better course of action here in the Caribbean, I believe. You always have that scoreboard in front of you, so you know how to approach the situation, regardless of the wind or dew factors. However, it is beyond my control. Regretfully, I didn’t receive any [tosses].
For us, it’s simply one of those things,” Shai Hope remarked.
As the series progressed, Hope found solace in his bowling unit’s development, regardless of the score. Alzarri made a significant contribution in the penultimate game prior to his injury, and rookie left-arm bowler Jediah Blades made an impression with three wickets in the fourth game. Following a delayed series debut, Hosein made an instant impact with the ball in the decisive match.
“We were aware of the difficulties of bowling spin on this surface and ground. However, we simply trusted [Hosein], a talented bowler, to come and do the job, and he performed quite well throughout that four-over period. Again, it’s just sad that we didn’t score as many runs as we would have liked,” Shai Hope said.
“I still have to give the boys credit for their back-end efforts, which gave us a chance to win the game. However, you [have] to pray that everything goes flawlessly in the field after you don’t have many runs on the board. For us, it simply didn’t work out,” he continued.
Shai Hope and his staff have little time to think because they have to make rapid decisions because Pakistan will be playing six white-ball matches starting on August 1.
“I believe that in the bowling unit, we have a little more clarity. We performed significantly better than we did in the initial games. We must move on from this one and focus on the upcoming Pakistan series to see how we can continue to have that combination and success,” Shai Hope said.
India
